Gardner A. Whitney Jr., of Westfield, pleaded not guilty in a barely audible voice to eight criminal counts in U.S. District Court in Springfield. He has been behind bars since his arrest on Jan. 23, unable to post the $25,000 cash bail set by a Hampden Superior Court judge.

Gardner Whitney

Whitney was originally charged in state court with possession of child pornography, assault and battery on a child under 14, lasciviously posing or exhibiting a child in the nude and photographing an unsuspecting nude person, and firearms offenses.

In federal court, where the sentencing guidelines for child pornography offenses are far higher, he was indicted for child pornography and sexual exploitation of a child. Whitney faces nearly 30 years in prison in convicted on the federal charges. The assault and firearms charges will remain in Hampden Superior Court.

The alleged offenses occurred Jan. 17, according to police, and involved at least two girls. A prosecutor in state court also said investigators discovered hundreds of electronic images of girls from 7 to 16 during a search of his home.

The allegations stand in startling contrast to Whitney's professional and civic life. In addition to being a Melha Shriner and an academic tutor at Suffield, Conn., Middle School, he was a retired U.S. Air Force member who for decades served as a special agent in an elite criminal investigations unit.

He was both a part-time reservist and full-time agent at Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee from the 1990s until 2006, when he retired, according to Linda Card, spokeswoman for the Office of Special Investigations.

Among the tenets of the agency, according to a fact sheet on its website are to "vigorously solve crime; protect secrets; warn of threats; exploit intelligence opportunities; operate in cyber."

A spokesman for the local Shriners said Whitney was well-liked in the organization, to which he belonged for about a decade.

"He was an easy going fellow. He had a nice way about him," said Shriner Allen Zippin, of Longmeadow. "I would have never, never, never expected this."

None of the allegations have been linked to Whitney's work as a Shriner, and the organization suspended him in the wake of his arrest. Zippin said the local chapter is nonetheless suffering from a backlash.

In soliciting ads for the program for the upcoming Shriners Circus in May, Zippin said they are about $20,000 behind where they were at this time last year.

A lawyer for Whitney said he was fired from his job at the middle school, where he had worked since 2009, after his arrest.

He is scheduled to appear for a pretrial conference in federal court on May 1.